Agreed. That's a lovely wagon, but it's not THAT lovely of a wagon.

Here is a very nice example that is on the high range of W124 wagon prices but if I was in the market its exactly what I would look for.

'94 wagon up for sale - Mercedes-Benz Forum

That was an interesting thread.

As nice as everyone thought it was, the thread is full of excuses why no one has bought it. No matter how you slice it, 213K miles is a lot of miles...

My wife was offered $7k for hers last year, turned it down.
Yes, it was a serious buy it now cash offer. Personally, I wanted to sell it at that price, but it's not my decision.


Talk is cheap, what IS the real value of a late W124 wagon?

I've copied my favorite response from the above thread:



probably worth $5k to the right buyer, but saying 'well worth' is a bit of an overstatement, otherwise it would have sold a long time ago.

the common adage is that 'a car is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it'.


Here's my analytic analysis of selling an older car, using this one as an example.


First question: Who are we trying to sell the car to?

If the buyer is a price buyer, they will be looking for the cheapest car they can find (i.e. they will not pay more than book price).
if they are a value buyer, they will be willing to pay a price premium for the incremental value based on the condition and maintenance of the car (i.e. they will be willing to pay some amount over book price).

So the seller has to decide on his customer.
Do i sell it to a price buyer for book price? Risk: a value buyer who was willing to pay a little more is going to buy it, and i have left money on the table. Reward: I offload the car, and save on insurance, tax, registration, and maintenance.
Or do i demand the price premium and sell it to a value buyer?
Risk: I get stuck with the car for a year and have to keep paying insurance, tax, registration, and keep maintaining the car, Reward: I make more money than if i sold it at book, as long as the extra money covers the costs of ownership.

The decision here seems to be to target the value buyer.

Second question: What do I price it at?
The decision has been made to target a value buyer, so by default the minimum price will be book, so let's say $3,500.

The price premium over this will be based on various factors e.g.
how much does it cost me to own this car every month it doesn't sell? i.e. (tax, registration, insurance, maintenance to keep it in it's current condition, opportunity cost of $3,500) / 12 months
How long will it take me to sell the car at this price? say 6 months
So we add (cost to own car x 6 months) to the book price just to cover these costs, before we even get to the 'value' premium.

What is the perceived value of the current condition of the car NET of maintenance that has been performed, and maintenance that needs to be performed?
the car is pretty much sorted, though no mention of transmission work other than it is currently functioning as it should - most here would agree that after 150K miles, regardless of maintenance, there is a markedly increased probability of transmission failure.
Based on the maintenance of this particular car that probability will be lower than average but greater than zero, so that adds the cost of a new tranny to the equation i.e. (value of maintenance performed in terms of future $ saved) - (cost of rebuilt transmission x probability of transmission failure) - (cost of new tires).
If the tranny has already been sorted, we would set the probability to 0% and ignore it.

So basically looking at these types of factors the seller would need to calculate/assume the value of the condition and maintenance to potential buyers, and in this case that value has been set at ($4,950 - $3,500) = $1,450. The seller has implied that the condition and maintenance of the car is worth an additional 41% of the base value of the car. If he finds a seller that sees the same value, then he will sell it.

This car has been for sale for coming in on 1.5 years based on the initial posting. it is driven sparingly, indicating it is not a primary car and/or surplus to requirements and therefore all costs of ownership (tax, reg, maint, ins. etc.) could be saved of the car is sold, so this car has probably cost the seller a couple of hundred dollars of value already in these costs regardless of what it ends up selling for.
The book value is devaluing by the day, so if the premium of $1,450 remains static the total price still needs to fall over time due to the lower book price.

The buyer for this car at this price DOES exist, the only question is, is the seller willing to wait as long as it takes to find him while the car continues to devalue and the profit margin shrinks from all the costs of ownership (tax, reg, maint, ins. etc.)? It appears yes, he is willing to wait, which is his right to do as he is the seller.

The target customer population for this type of car is a relatively small population - someone who appreciates an older german car/mercedes, is not as averse to station wagons as the typical amercian car buyer, lives close to the seller, and is willing to pay 40%+ over book price because they see the value in the condition of the car.

It appears that after all this time, most of these factors were satisfied by '94Wagenmeister':
Appreciates these cars? check.
Likes wagons? His username is 'Wagenmeister!'
Willing to pay 40% over book price? check.
Lives close to the seller? oh well, 3/4 ain't bad

so from the PM sbaert posted, it seems 94Wagenmeister offered $1,200 below asking price to account for having to transport the car (actual travel cost + opportunity cost of lost wages). The seller and buyer both placed a total value of $4,950 on the car, the only problem is that part of the buyer's value proposition included a cost that the seller would not realize in terms of compensation for the vehicle, and so only receive $3,750 in hand.
If the seller has to wait an additional 12 months to find the right buyer, which is realistic based on how long it has already been for sale:
the book price might fall another $200, he might pay an additional $400 ($40/month) in ownership/maintenance costs (tax, reg, maint, ins. etc.), and his opportunity cost of not taking the $3,750 would be $250 (if he added it to a decent investment for those 12 months at a 5% rate of return compounded annually). So by turning down $3,750, the seller is accepting the risk that in 12M he would have given up an additional ($200 + $480 + $250 = $930) of value including having to likely reduce the price to account for the reduction in book value.

So accept $1,200 less than asking price today and see the car go to one of the few that would appreciate it and maintain it like you did, or potentially give up $930 anyway by maybe having to keep the car for another year (and hope it doesn't get stolen, vandalized, or have some unforeseen mechanical issue etc. in that time)?

Personally, in this case I would have countered and asked for an additional $100-$150 here and done the deal to bridge the gap, as part of my own 'value' would be in seeing the car go to a good home. Every seller has to do his own math, and while i see it this way, sbaert may have other considerations unknown to us so his decision was to not sell, and that makes sense too. you just have to love how there is so much going on behind the simple decisions of 'i want to sell it for $X' and 'i want to buy it for $Y'!

TL;DR supply and demand




Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles

Thanks everyone for the helpful information, especially around recurring issues and things to look for. I would never buy a used car without having it thoroughly inspected, but I always like to know what I'm getting into before spending money on inspections.

I've done a bit more research about the W124, I'm getting a better feel for the market and yes, that particular dealer's prices are a nonstarter. Didn't get a good vibe when I called to ask for more information about the car.

The market for clean W124s is small and requires buyers to be patient - no surprise there. I think there is a perception, right or wrong, that Mercedes wagons have a sort of cult following and are highly sought after. I just don't think I was prepared for the degree to which sellers overvalue these cars, especially as they continue to age and become more maintenance intensive.

Having a wagon is by no means a requirement in my case, and if there is better value in something like a clean E420 sedan, I'm happy to trade the utility of a wagon for the extra power of a V8. So I will change direction slightly and keep looking.

Just a quick response to this comment: the care and feeding of an AMG car is not a cheap endeavor, even by Mercedes standards. In my calculus, the C63 justifies its upkeep costs because the M156 engine is nothing short of thrilling - in performance, temperament, and sound. Not having learned much about the CLA45, I'd be interested to see if AMG is able to capture that depth of experience in the 4 cylinder, or even in the M157 TT engine of the bigger AMG cars.

But that's a subjective quibble. Can't argue with fuel consumption numbers, and any AMG car is going to be very fast and lots of fun.

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2010 C63 AMG (P31)
In the market for a clean W124